Heat exchange apparatus



F eb. 25, 1958 H. CARRIER 2,824,621

HEAT EXCHANGE APPARATUS Filed Dec. 22, 1954- I INVENTOR. HENRY CARRIER ATTORNEYS HEAT EXCHANGE APPARATUS Henry Carrier, Portsmouth, R. I.

Application December 22, 1954, Serial No. 476,974

1 Claim. (Cl. 183-23) This invention relates to a heat exchange apparatus for use with gas, and more particularly to an apparatus for cooling air.

Many devices are in use for cooling gases which involve refrigeration systems, and it has additionally been proposed to utilize the ambient temperature of the earth to cool air by passing air through a plurality of pipes that have been sunken into the earth or into a well containing water. One of the disadvantages in establishing these prior art systems has been the initial cost, and it is therefore one of the objects of this invention to provide a heat exchange apparatus which will be relatively inexpensive to install and which will utilize the coolness of well water to lower the temperature of air.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for use with a well in which the air may be bubbled through the water, thereby being broken up into small particles to present large areas of cooling.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for passing air through water in a well including means to reduce the vapor content of the air so passed and control the relative humidity thereof.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a sectional view of the complete apparatus;

Figure 2 is a partial sectional view of the top of the apparatus at the earth level.

In proceeding with my invention, I provide a blower and a pipe leading therefrom to conduct air below the water level of a well. I additionally provide an interior conduit within the well out through which the air may be directed that is bubbled therein and connect with this interior conduit one or more outlet pipes. The well is preferably capped to confine the air therein, the capping taking the form of a condensate trap which tends to collect some of the vapor in the air and return it to the well in the form of water droplets.

Referring to the drawings, generally designates a well which is provided in the earth and may be of artesian or dug type, preferably provided with an internal conduit 11 surrounding the interior walls thereof to extend below the water level thereof a substantial distance. At the upper end of the interior conduit there is provided a cap portion generally designated 12, which includes a multi sided pyramidal hat and depending side walls 13 which mate with the upper end of conduit 11. In some cases a conduit such as 11 is unnecessary and thus the hat portion would extend into the earth only a short distance, such as at 12A (Figure 2).

Within the interior of the well an air conduit 14 is provided which extends from slightly above the ground surface to a substantial distance below the water level within the well. This air conduit 14 is of a size smaller than the interior dimensions of the well and is provided with open top and bottom ends 15 and 16, respectively. Adja- United States RatentOw 2,824,621 Patented Feb. 25, 1958 cent the open top end'15' one or more outletpipes 17 communicate with openings 18 in the side wall of the air conduit 14. To supply air to the interior of the air conduit 14, a blower 20, preferably of the centrifgual type, is provided. This blower has an inlet port 21 and an outlet port 22, the latter of which has a discharge pipe 23 coupled thereto. The discharge pipe 23 extends down through the earth and through the side of the well below the water level thereof as at 24 and passes through an opening 25 in the side wall of the air conduit 14 near the bottom end 16 thereof. The outlet 26 of the discharge pipe is bent at a right angle so as to extend upwardly toward the surface of the water level in the well.

In operation, air designated by arrows 30 enters the inlet port 21 of the blower 20 where it is forced under considerable pressure through the pipe 23 and into the well 10. The amount of pressure developed in the blower 20 is primarily dependent upon the head of water through which the air must be passed and is sufiicient not only for this purpose but additionally to insure that the air is broken up into small particles as it enters the water in the well. The small particles will pass through the immersed part of the supply pipe 23 and emerge from the surface of the well water being wholly contained within the interior air conduit 14. Because of the breaking up of the air particles, a relatively large area of air comes in contact with the water and is cooled thereby. During the contact of the air with the water, there will be a natural tendency for the air to pick up water vapor, which will be carried along with the air up through the air conduit 14. The air stream in the air conduit 14 is directed up toward the pyramidal cap 12 where it will tend to impinge on the interior walls thereof, as shown diagrammatically in Figure 2. If the air stream has been cooled below the dew-point temperature of the outside air, an area of condensation will be set up in the cap and the air will thus lose much of its moisture content that has been gained by passing through the well water. The condensate water droplets will form on the interior of the cap and pass between the interior of the well and the exterior of the air conduit 14.

It may happen that even after the above process has been completed, due to various conditions such as the temperature of the air supplied which controls the amount of water vapor that may be absorbed and the temperature of the water, et cetera, that the moisture content of the air coming out of the outlet pipe 17 has the improper humidity for the utilization to which it will be put. Therefore, under some conditions it may be necessary to provide humidity control apparatus, such as 40, which may take many forms and which may serve to either add moisture or remove it from the supplied air.

It will thus be seen that the apparatus above described is economical to manufacture and install and very economical to run over protracted periods of time and is useful, particularly in providing inexpensive air conditioning systems for use in restaurants, large buildings, and the like.

I claim:

In a gas handling apparatus for use with a well in the ground, concentric tubes extending vertically into the ground to below the water level in the well, a gas input pipe extending through the walls of both tubes and terminating within the inner tube with its discharge end below the water level of the well, a gas outlet conduit from the inner tube above the water level, a vapor trap having its walls in continuation of the walls of the outer of said tubes and communicating with the space between said tubes to condense water vapor and return it to the well through the space between said tubes.

(References on following page) .Referenc Cited in the file of this patent 2,199,967 UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 13 919,611 Martin Apr. 27, 1909 1,042,731 VWaIther Oct. 29, 1912 5 1,214,312 514,673

4 Y Bichowsky -Q. May 7, 1940 Weits et a1. Oct. 8, 1946 Cristcnsem, Jan. 21. 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Dec. 15, 1930 

